Research on the Academic Benefits of the Advanced Placement Program

With more than 3 million participants per year, the Advanced Placement (AP) program is one of the most popular programs in the United States for exposing high-achieving high school students to advanced academic content. Sponsored by the College Board, the AP program provides a framework in which high school teachers can teach introductory college-level courses to high school students. These students then take one of 34 standardized tests at the end of the year, and students who score well on their course’s AP test can receive college credit from their university in which they later enroll. Despite the popularity of the AP program, remarkably little independent research has been conducted on the academic benefits of AP. In this article, I summarize the state of knowledge about the academic benefits of AP. Previous research and descriptive data indicate that AP students outperform non-AP students on a variety of academic measures, but many other aspects of the program are poorly understood, partially due to variability across AP subjects. These aspects include the causal impact of AP, which components of the program are most effective in boosting academic achievement, and how students engage with the AP program. I also conclude by making suggestions for researchers to use new methodologies to investigate new scientific and policy questions and new student populations to improve the educational scholars’ and practitioners’ understanding of the AP program.